Minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic surgical techniques have become increasingly common in usage. However, with the increase in use and availability, the devices and techniques continue to become more and more sophisticated. For certain procedures, such as accessing a pancreatic pseudocyst or other target site in a patient body, it is possible to use an access needle device. One such device utilizes a blunt access cannula housing a bevel-tipped stylet. The cannula of existing systems is blunt, because a sharp bevel-tipped needle may strip or otherwise damage a wire guide that is moved over/through it, which is why the stylet is used to provide the piercing tip while providing a cannula through which a wire guide may be advanced—including out of and past its distal end. The cannula and stylet are directed to a target site (e.g., via an endoscope working channel), where the stylet tip is used to puncture through target tissue to allow penetration of the access cannula. Thereafter, the stylet must be removed to free up the lumen of the access cannula so that a wire guide may be directed through that lumen.
For accessing structures like a pancreatic pseudocyst, the cannula is typically at least 180 cm in length. Thus, retracting and removing the style, then directing the wire guide all the way back through the lumen can be a time-consuming procedure. Because the time of the patient, treatment personnel, and facilities are at a premium, it would be advantageous to provide a system and method that will offer greater efficiency without sacrificing the benefits of such a minimally invasive procedure to provide a wire guide accessing a target site.